CCSI-SARE Core Cover Crop and Soil Health Virtual Trainings

Learning can often come in many formats. A visual learner prefers an image--diagram, graph, chart, etc.. Auditory learners are most efficient when information is heard or spoken. Information presented with words is favored by those who have a reading/writing preference. Carrying out a physical/tactile activity may best help a person who is a kinesthetic learner. More often than not, a combination of 2 or more of these styles is even more effective. I know it is for me. My top two learning styles are visual and kinesthetic. Reading/writing and auditory are always a great supplement as well. What’s your learning style(s)?

Any great instructor takes the learning styles of his/her anticipated audience into consideration when preparing a lesson. Crafting the lesson to one individual is not often afforded, but usually for a crowd full of unique individuals. Throw in a few hurdles such as large audiences (that can make incorporating hand-on activities challenging) or maybe you’ve got a few pupils who don’t really want to attend. One of the most recent challenges has arisen due to COVID-19 -- material cannot be presented in person.

The CCSI-SARE planning committee has put on their thinking caps and jumped hurdles to continue to provide the Core Soil Health and Cover Crops trainings to Indiana Conservation Partnership and those who work one-on-one with farmers to implement soil health practices on their farms. Typically the mentioned Core Trainings are two separate, full day trainings. To adhere to guidance to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the planning committee has decided to host the 2021 trainings virtually. While no one refutes that an in-person, hands-on training is best, that simply cannot happen right now. Rather than cancelling, the trainings will be held in three, 2-hour sessions. With many new staff across the state, a virtual training is better than no training at all!

On the bright side, hosting the trainings virtually has given the opportunity to bring back a couple of valuable tools, the Midwest Cover Crops Council Decision Tool and the seeding calculator. Obstacles such as uncertain Wi-Fi availability has hindered their incorpation into recent in-person trainings. This is a great opportunity to bring those tools back to the training and they will surely appeal to those kinesthetic learners!

Below is a few of the details of the upcoming CCSI-SARE Core Cover Crops and Soil Health Training:

All sessions will be held on Thursdays.

Session 1: March 11th 2-4PM EST

-Introductions: course layout, expectations

-Sustainable and Regenerative & Soil Health Systems

-Cover Crop ID

-Deep Dive into Cover Crops: Benefits and Selections

Session 2: March 18th 2-4PM EST

-Recap from Session 1 and Introductions

-Indiana Seed Laws

-Cover Crop Strategies and Equipment

-Soil Health Cropping Systems and Equipment

Session 3: March 25th 2-4PM EST

-Recap from Session 2 and Introductions

-Insect Pests and Beneficials Management; Considerations in Soil Health Systems and Cover Crops

-Seeding Tools and Calculators

-Weed Management Considerations for a Soil Health System and Basic Cover Crop Termination

Breaks will be built into the sessions

If you would like to register, head over to the following link for all 3 sessions: https://www.ccsin.org/event-registration . Attendees will need to register for each session.

*** To fully complete this training, all 3 sessions are required.****

We hope to see you (virtually) there!

Jessica Hoehn CCSI Southern Program Manager